Conventionally, a liquid medication as a liquid state medicine is dispensed in a dispensing pharmacy or the like. In accordance with a prescription for a patient, one or a plurality of types of liquid medications are infused sequentially by a predetermined quantity into a prescription bottle, and a required diluent is infused, thereby dispensing a liquid medication.
Conventional techniques related to a liquid medication dispensing machine for dispensing a liquid medication are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-112673 (Patent Literature 1) and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-178495 (Patent Literature 2), for example. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-112673 (Patent Literature 1) proposes a liquid medication dispensing machine having a rotary unit rotated while holding a plurality of liquid medication bottles and rotating the rotary unit by 180 degrees, thereby inverting a liquid medication bottle.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-178495 (Patent Literature 2) proposes a liquid medication dispensing machine including a pump for supplying a liquid medication from within a liquid medication bottle toward an opening of a prescription bottle via a tube, and a control device controlling driving of the pump, wherein the control device has a function of switching pump driving between a liquid medication supply state in which the liquid medication is supplied to the prescription bottle and a liquid medication stirring state in which the liquid medication in the liquid medication bottle is stirred.